Hey y'all -- I've been neglecting to get this posted for various reasons, so with no further delay:

You're invited to my place, this Friday evening, to hang out, prepare good food & beverages, eat & drink, then watch a DVD or two on the Movie Wall. That's my DIY home theater downstairs, 165" diagonal, 5.1 surround, various cushy things to sit on. The upstairs is open-plan, with a good-size kitchen island, so it kinda lends itself to cooking parties. (Or so I imagine; this will be my first. I'm sure it will be every bit as structured & organized as last night's meeting. Err... minus the constitutional revisions. )

Weather tomorrow looks cloudy and not too warm, so I doubt folks will spend much time on the deck I rebuilt, but it will also be available.

There will be 2 cats which will be sociable, 1 that will hide, and a rabbit. Plus I have like a jillion computers for folks to play with (well, OK, 5 that are actually hooked up) and an assortment of spare PC parts. Plus there's the old PS2, if folks feel like Soul Calibur or Lego Star Wars.

Folks can show up any time after 5:00 PM. I'm in Eagan; please PM me for actual directions. Bring food to cook! or beverages! or DVDs!

Entree will be homemadepizza! Thanks Metis for the excellent idea. I will take care of getting the dough ready.

So: we'll need toppings! and ale!

Good idea, one of the best parties I ever had involved everyone bringing a pizza topping. Put me down for a couple of batches of chocolate chip cookies, to be made by slave labor (or little sister) tomorrow afternoon.

of course shortening would be preferred over butter, but I had to use what I had.

The recipe I used was here: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1926,154 ... 97,00.htmlbut my alterations were: I used a single 15" round pan, used butter instead of shortening. After dough had risen and I had spread on pan, I brushed it with olive oil and garlic and then baked it for 10 min. This helps when you add a lot of topping so it doesn't get soggy, it also tastes a lot better.

oh I also didn't bother with the corn meal, but it would have been a good addition. And a food processor makes quick work out of kneading the dough, don't know if you have one or not?